Some nut trees tend to bear heavily in alternate years anyway. They spend a
year buildng up reserves for next year's crop.
Butternuts are relatively short lived trees, seldom exceeding 75 years at
the most. Canker dieback seems to be the most common ailment. It's
probably caused by a fungus. The cankered portions should be removed and
destroyed and (this is one of the few times such painting is recommended)
the wounds should be painted with a fungicidal paint.
Leaves that might also harbor fungus (brown leaf spot) and should be raked
and destroyed.
See "Diseases and Pests of Ornamental Plants" by Pirone for additional
information.
shadowlight wrote in message ...
>In article <3883EC94.347D41F6 at daviesand.com>, karl at daviesand.com says...
>>>>>> Mike the Tree Doctor wrote:
>>>> > Folks:
>> >
>> > I am very concerned with the decline of Butternut (Juglans cinerea) in
New
>> > England, and am seeking to educate myself. In the areas in which I work
>> > these days (NY, CT, MA primarily) it is very seldom that I see
regeneration,
>> > due primarily to a paucity of reproduction-aged trees. On trees that
are
>> > extant, canker-disease symptoms are nearly ubiquitous.
>> >
>> > Any URLs or stories on what the state of the art in research and
>> > intervention might be??
>>>> You can order hard copies of some articles on butternut from the Northern
Nut
>> Growers Association at http://www.icserv.com/nnga/btwalnut.htm. Most of
the
>> articles are from NNGA annual reports. If you're near Cornell, Arnold
>> Arboretum, Carey Arboretum, or the CT Ag Experiment Station, they have
>> subscriptions to the annual reports. Most major university libraries
have
>> subscriptions too (not UMass, however).
>>um, do any of these articles have information useful to owners of
>butternuts? i have 2, about 25-30 years old & was told they have canker
>when i bought the house. thay didn't produce this year, but neither did
>any of the other nut trees (black walnut & carpathian walnut. there were
>a very few shagbark hickory nuts). i'm very fond of butternuts & i'd like
>to save the trees if possible
>lee